Station 3: Desperate Once Convinced
is the third episode of ''Ressha Sentai ToQger. Synopsis After Ticket warns the ToQgers that the Ressha trains will not wait for them, Kagura is left behind and despite her fears must take on Chain Shadow by herself. Plot Continuing where the previous episode left off, the Conductor and Ticket elaborate on their contradictory answers: the hypothesis that darkness consumed the ToQGers' hometown is plausible, and if it holds true, then the power of their imagination was responsible for repelling the five from the darkness and send them to the Rainbow Line (sans Right, who had wound up in the Shadow Line by mistake due to his imagination being so strong that he was hurled further than the others). If not, then only the presence of the Shadow Line would have been enough for their inner lights to send them away, before their hometown could be taken over. Tokatti wants to investigate further, and Ticket warns him that, in order to do so, the five would have to leave the Rainbow Line, essentially giving up their ToQGer powers. After the Conductor and Ticket leave, Hikari asks Right if he wants to get off the train and quit being a ToQGer if only to find out the truth, and Right steadfastly refuses. Later that night, Kagura finds herself more contemplative by usual. Right comes across her and offers her an onigiri, and she asks him if he doesn't want to return to their Secret Base, or to his parents. Right then tells her that it's okay if she wants to leave as, having no memories, she has no duties to be bound to. Kagura then asks why he wants to continue as a ToQGer, and he replies that, if he let Shadow Line do as they please, something horrible would happen to the world, and more than being his duty, he wants to prevent it. While Kagura admires Right's sense of justice, her mind is still filled with insecurity as the Rainbow Line approaches the Heiwadani (Valley of Peace) Station. As the doors open, Kagura notices a poster at the station which reads "Return to your city!", and wonders what became of her own hometown. As she wonders, however, the Rainbow Line's doors close and the train departs, leaving Kagura behind. As she thinks of what to do, she notices another train arriving, but unfortunately, it's from Shadow Line. Kagura runs for cover as a coffin-carrying, singing Shadow Kaijin, Chain Shadow steps out, changing the station's name to "Shi-no-tani" (Valley of Death). Although terrified, Kagura decides to follow and intercept Chain Shadow as he strides down the street. She transforms into ToQ 5gou and does her roll call as Chain Shadow sends the Kuros at her. Self-empowering herself into her "Super Girl" alter ego, she makes short work of the Kuros, but Chain Shadow quickly ensnares her in chains and opens his casket, in which there is a cross. A purple light shines from it, depowering Kagura, sucking her into the coffin while shrinking her as it closes down on her. Chain Shadow continues on his way, and all that remains of Kagura is the dumpling Right gave her before. At the Castle Terminal, Madame Noir tells Baron Nero that she was the one who sent Chain Shadow, praising his ability to create darkness. When they are about to argue over their methods (Nero preferring to deploy multiple servants at once), General Schwarz shows up reminding them that the ToQGers' interference would render their argument a moot point, to which both of them shoot back by questioning why he hasn't acted so far. He retorts that strategizing also a valuable asset in battle and leaves. As he goes, Schwarz drops a handkerchief, which he allows Miss Gritta to keep when she offers it back to him. The morning after, Kagura's teammates are desperate looking for her, and Right remembers the conversation they had the night before. Knowing that Kagura is too shy to have just dropped off by herself, Mio concludes that she had been left behind accidentally. Right quickly requests the Conductor to return to Heiwadani for Kagura, to which he complies. As the team discusses about Kagura's desire of returning, the team finds out that Heiwadani had been taken over by Shadow Line and, with everyone worried about Kagura, Right adds there is a second problem about her... At Shi-no-tani, four children arrive at school and listen to Chain Shadow's song coming from the music room. He quickly stops once he notices the children snooping, and captures them. In the coffin, Kagura notices darkness seeping out of the kids as they cry, out of fear of dying. The other ToQGers intercept Chain Shadow as he's leaving the school. Right notices the coffin the Kaijin drags behind him and quietly signals to his teammates before they transform. Inside the casket, Kagura tries to comfort the children, as a little girl says she wants her mother. She then remembers how Right told her how it's the ToQGers' duty to keep the world safe from Shadow Line. At the school yard, the ToQGers are kept busy with the Kuros while Chain Shadow goes to abduct more schoolchildren. When his casket opens, however, the ToQGers quickly jump before it and put the kids to safety as ToQ 1gou leaps into the coffin before it closes. When Right is about to cut Kagura free, she declines, saying that she realized that she wants to be a ToQGer to help people like the children with her. She then asks everyone to step back and starts concentrating her imagination to an unprecedented level, making Right increasingly nervous. Taking on her "Strongest Girl" alter ego, Kagura punches the cross hard enough for Chain Shadow's coffin to shatter, freeing everyone. With renewed confidence, Kagura faces down Chain Shadow, as Right urges his teammates to back off, warning them of the "second problem" he mentioned before. Transforming into ToQ 5gou, Kagura goes absolutely berserk against the Kaijin. No one sees any problem with this, until Right mentions that she tends to overact when imagining her alter egos, recalling an episode where she imagined herself as a mermaid and nearly drowned (while nearly taking Right with her when he tried to save her; she thought he was her "Prince Charming"). It is this overactive imagination, applied to a fighting situation, that frightens Right, as he fears Kagura will get herself killed in a death-or-glory attack. He quickly transforms back into ToQ 1gou and jumps to catch her before she can barrel at Chain Shadow, while the others stop him from attacking. ToQ 1gou and ToQ 5gou end up falling into the swimming pool, and while in there, they remember how Right saved Kagura from drowning, and thus manage to recall that their city was located by the sea. As they get out of the pool, ToQ 1gou confides that, to him, it's not about wanting or not to go home, but wanting to press on ahead as a ToQGer, because he feels they will find their hometown if they stay on the Rainbow Line rather than dropping off to look for a place he cannot recall properly. This cheers ToQ 5gou up, as they rejoin their teammates to battle Chain Shadow. ToQ 1gou and ToQ 5gou quickly perform a Transfer Change, as she uses the Rail Slasher first to send Chain Shadow's chains back at him, then to let ToQ 1gou ride it and cut him down with the Steel Bridge Claw. They then prepare the Renketsu Bazooka with ToQ 5gou at the trigger, and she shoots a giant pair of pliers to cut down Chain Shadow's chains, defeating him. Once Chain Shadow is enlarged, the team forms the ToQ-Oh to counter him, but the Kaijin ensnares the mecha with his chains, summoning a coffin that closes itself around it. Being an easy prey for Chain Shadow, the imagination levels of the ToQ-Oh start decreasing, putting the team in a literally tight position. However, ToQ 1gou manages to break them out by having the Red Ressha disassemble and bust through the coffin's lid. The ToQ-Oh then proceeds to destroy Chain Shadow by striking him with the Ressha Slash. Afterwards, at the station (which is Heiwadani again), Right and Kagura share with their teammates what they managed to remember. Tokatti is ecstatic, as the fact that their hometown is a coast town narrows their search down, despite it being such a small clue, and Right encourages everyone to keep moving ahead on the Rainbow Line, as Kagura thinks to herself that someday, for sure, they will make it. Cast * : **Young Right: * : * : * : * : **Young Kagura: * : * , ToQger Equipment Voice: * : * : * : * : * : Guest Cast * : *Child: , , , Suit actors *ToQ 1gou: *ToQ 2gou: *ToQ 3gou: *ToQ 4gou: *ToQ 5gou, Wagon: *Baron Nero: *Madame Noir: *General Schwarz: *Miss Gritta: *Chain Shadow: *Combatant Kuros: ? Transfer Changes *Transfer Changes for Desperate Once Convinced: **ToQ 1gou - Pink **ToQ 2gou - N/A **ToQ 3gou - N/A **ToQ 4gou - N/A **ToQ 5gou - Red *This is the first episode where Tokatti, Mio, and Hikari do not initiate Transfer Changes. Errors *''to be added'' Notes *'Tripping Scene': ToQ 3gou *'Everyone's Train Corner:' **'Keisei Electric Railway - AE Series Skyliner: Connecting the heart of Tokyo with Narita International Airport on the the Narita Sky Access Line, this is an incredibly fast express train which can reach speeds of up to 160km/hr. **'Aoimori Railway Company - Aoimori Type 701: A train which runs on Aomori prefecture's 121.9 kilometers of track. A mascot character named "Molly" is drawn upon the train's body. **Keihan Electric Railway - 8000 Series "Elegant Saloon": "Elegant Saloon" is the nickname of this train. Double-decker cars are also connected. *As a part of Super Hero Time, this episode aired alongside episode 20, . *This episode reveals the second clue of their hometown of their childhood: a tree located near the sea. *It is revealed that ToQ-Oh depends on Imagination Energy to keep it moving, otherwise the mech will become disabled should the Imagination Energy be depleted. *In the Korean dub of ToQger known as Power Rangers Train Force, the scene where Red Ressha disassembles from ToQ-Oh to break free from the coffin is spliced up, hiding ToQ-Oh's position. This is likely because it was a largely infamous pose that spread throughout the Internet due to its unintentionally phallic imagery. DVD/Blu-ray releases Ressha Sentai ToQger Volume 1 features episodes 1-4: Starting Station: Let's Ride the Limited Express Train, Station 2: We Are Here, Station 3: Desperate Once Convinced and Station 4: Be Aware of the Things You Lose. DSTD08941-d.jpg|''ToQger'' Volume 1, DVD cover BSTD08941-d.jpg|''ToQger'' Volume 1, Blu-ray cover External links *TV Asahi's official preview for ｢思いこんだら命がけ *Toei TV's official episode guide for ｢思いこんだら命がけ｣ Category:Sentai episodes Category:Written by Yasuko Kobayashi